For switching from environmentally accumulated materials of petroleum chemistry to materials of biomass-derived environmentally recycling types, it has been desired to extract a novel naturally occurring polymer from microorganisms and create a functional material or formulation based on the novel naturally occurring polymer for effective applications thereof. From such standpoint, attention may satisfactorily be focused on Aphanothece sacrum as a photosynthetic freshwater blue-green alga secreting an agar-like substance at an extremely enormous amount into extracellular matrices.
[Reference 1] Kiyotaka Hanada, “Blessing of Nature, Blessings and Future of Groundwater and Spring”, The Thirteenth Water Environment Academic Association Civic Seminar Lecture Proceedings, page 29 (2004)
The reference 1 reports that “it is observed that Aphanothece sacrum as a food blue-green alga has an anti-oxidation action and an anti-allergic activity”. However, the reference 1 never reveals any active ingredient for these actions.
[Reference 2] Kiyotaka Hanada, Tomonobu Okamoto, Naoshige Sasada, Masateru Ono, Keiji Igoshi, Hiromasa Kobayashi, Tikako Masuoka, Yasuyuki Ito “Culture of Aphanothece sacrum (Sur.) Okada as a Blue-Green Alga Intrinsic to Japan and Examinations of its Constitutional Monosaccharides and Functionality”, Annals of Researches in the Department of Agriculture, Kyushu Tokai University, No. 24, page 37 (2004).
The reference 2 reports the presence of dyes, proteins, monosaccharides, β-carotene, linolenic acid, licopin, and polysaccharides after attempts for extracting an active ingredient from Aphanothece sacrum. As the monosaccharides, glucose, mannose and xylose were detected. However, the structures of the polysaccharides were not sufficiently analyzed.
Information about Aphanothece sacrum is disclosed that processed dry products of Aphanothece sacrum never cause any fungal proliferation so that the processed dry products are never rotten (http://www.kisendou.co/shiryou.htm). Processed dry products of Aphanothece sacrum are now on market as functional health foods. This indicates the anti-bacterial property of Aphanothece sacrum.
[Reference 3] Jean-Michel Panoff, et al., “Sulfated exopolysaccharides by two unicellular strains of cyanobacteria, Synechocystis PCC 6803 and 6714”, Arch. Microbiol. (1988) 150: 558-563.
The reference 3 shows only the compositions of monosaccharides in the polysaccharides derived from Synechocystis and reports a sulfated polysaccharide with N-acetylhexose, uronic acid and sulfate group. Based on the data about “sulfate residues” described in Table 1, page 561 in the reference, it is calculated that the ratio of sulfur atom in all of the elements in the sulfated polysaccharide is 1.2% by weight at maximum, while the molecular weight of the sulfated polysaccharide is not identified.
With no direct relation with the invention, alternatively, the following reference 4 for example reports that spirulan as a sulfated polysaccharide extracted from spirulina as a food blue-green alga has an anti-viral activity and the sugar components composing spirulan are neutral sugars, uronic acid, methylated sugar, sulfuric acid and the like.
[Reference 4] Toshimitsu Hayashi, et al., “Calcium Spirulan, an Inhibitor of Enveloped Virus Replication, from a Blue-Green Alga Spirulina plantensis”, J. Nat. Prod. (1996), 59, 83-87.
Aphanothece sacrum is a biological species intrinsic to the Kyushu District, Japan and due to the conditions that Aphanothece sacrum is a very fragile organism with tough constraints to growth conditions and culture conditions therefor, not any satisfactory research works about Aphanothece sacrum and the agar-like substance secreted by Aphanothece sacrum have actually been done yet, except for the aforementioned several reports.